Korea Backs Monopoly for Blind Masseurs

Profession will remain reserved for the blind in South Korea
Posted Oct 31, 2008 5:24 AM CDT
Korea Backs Monopoly for Blind Masseurs
South Korean blind masseurs struggle with riot policemen during a rally against government's policy on a bridge in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008.    (AP Photo/Yonhap )

A South Korean court has upheld a law allowing only blind people to work as masseurs, the AP reports. The profession has been reserved for the blind for almost a century, but a legal battle had raged for years over the constitutionality of the rule. The perceived threat to their livelihood sparked huge protests and two suicides among the country's 7,000 blind masseurs.
(More South Korea stories.)

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